Exclusive: Welcome to 'Atlantis'

by Jarett Wieselman
5:45 AM PST, November 23, 2013

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Exclusive: Welcome to 'Atlantis'

This week, BBC America's newest series Atlantis premieres as part of the network's Supernatural Saturday, which has previously played host to Orphan Black, Dr. Who, Torchwood, In The Flesh and many others. ETonline scored an exclusive clip from the series premiere and also spoke with executive producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Capps about the epic new series.

The series stars Jack Donnelly as Jason (of "And The Argonauts" fame) who finds himself transported from modern times to ancient Greece while on a quest to find his missing father. "Even though it's a different time and place, he quickly feels like he fits in there much better than he did in contemporary society," Murphy told ETonline.

Upon arriving he meets two companions, Hercules and Medusa. And while Jason possesses a knowledge of their well-written destinies, "he's by no means a Greek scholar," Murphy adds. Which is a good thing because the EPs have turned Atlantis into a Greatest Hits of Greek Mythology, tweaking some character arcs and combining others.

"We meet the characters before they're the characters of legend," Capps says. "We meet a much larger Hercules, you meet Jason before he joins the Argonauts, you're meeting Medusa as a normal girl, but the exciting part is that you know all of their looming fate." This also infuses the series with a sense of tragedy since history has proven time and again that it's impossible to totally outrun your fate. "Greek myths are tragic, and this adds another layer of tragedy onto them," Capps adds.

Each episode will continue the overarching mythological journey, but also have stand-alone elements. "They're kind of like the Greek A-Team," Murphy laughs. "They're the go-to people to fix things. We see Atlantis as the centerpiece for all these mythical creatures and stories to converge, which gave us stories to tell every week." Check out ETonline's exclusive clip!